Bear
by Sailor Earth Selestina118
Summary: Gabriel celebrates Halloween for the first time with his son, Noah. October challenge reply for the lj community sylar gabriel. R/R! Enjoy!


**Title:** Bear**  
Author:**SE Selestina118  
**Rating:** G**  
Characters:** Gabriel, little Noah, and a bunch of OCs**  
Word Count:** 1,453**  
Spoilers:** None, unless you haven't seen the episode_ I Am Become Death_**  
Prompts:** Redemption, stuffed teddy bear, and bathing for the livejournal community sylargabriel.**  
Disclaimer:** Don't own it – just playing around with the characters which seem to have taken up residence in my head. I also don't own Harley Davidson, Disney or any of it's characters, Barney, Jedi's, or any of the mentioned candy brands.  
**Summary: **Lots of fluff and some musings on the journey that Gabriel took to be a good father to Noah. This is Noah celebrating his first Halloween with his awesome daddy.  
**Author's Notes: **This was pretty much written over the past week or so during my Calculus II class in the margins of my notebook. XD Hopefully it all works. Enjoy!!

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**Bear**

Gabriel tossed his boy into the air garnering a laugh from him. He couldn't believe that his son was fast approaching one year in age and about to celebrate his very first Halloween. One year free from his vice. One year re-learning how to truly love another person unconditionally. Noah was a godsend. If Virginia were alive she would have called him an angel sent from Heaven just like Gabriel was to her as a child. Hopefully, Noah could escape the fate of a fallen angel.

Gabriel kissed Noah's forehead as he de-clothed him and placed him into a warm bath. Noah had made quite the mess at dinner and was in need of some serious washing. He was generally a quiet, happy child, especially during his bath time. It always amazed Gabriel the serenity that child exuded and passed onto him. Just one look from Noah's big, brown eyes and any thoughts that kept him in such a state as Sylar washed away like the remains of that afternoon's dinner from Noah's face.

This fact does not mean that keeping control over himself, his inner instincts screaming out in need to be free from their captivity, was any easy facility. The emotion that clouded Gabriel during his years as Sylar coated and seeped into him like some toxic sludge in an oil spill. It took much time and help from his family, especially his little Noah, to clean the oil from his wings.

Gabriel was in awe of his son as he washed him. No one had ever depended on him for anything besides making sure that watches were fixed by their appropriate deadlines. Here was this small being; however, totally dependent on his every action. When Noah was completely clean, Gabriel plucked him out of the dirty water and wrapped him in a large, fluffy towel before the air could send shivers down Noah's drenched, little body. It was times like this when Gabriel wished that he could at least use his telekinesis to give himself a third hand as he balanced Noah on one arm and unplugged the drain to the tub with the other. Gabriel couldn't even allow that little bit of power to seep through because if he did, he would only keep escalating his usage eventually returning to Sylar and the hunt for more power.

Keeping his boy close, Gabriel took Noah into his bright, blue bedroom. Everything was blue from the carpeting, to the walls, to the drapes, even including the blankets of Noah's crib and his favorite stuffed teddy bear. Gabriel laid him on the changing table and rubbed Noah dry blowing on his bare stomach and smiling like any adoring father. Even though Gabriel's past was so dark and dense, how could there be any way possible that he could not utterly fall in love with his son? Was not the true evolutionary imperative in its most basic form to reproduce and care for that child?

Leaving him for only a short amount of time, Gabriel turned from Noah to rifle through his son's closet quickly looking for his Halloween costume. When Gabriel and his wife, Noah's mother, went to the typical seasonal Halloween shop they both decided definitively that Noah was not going to have to go through the the common right of passage for a child - "How cute were they as a pumpkin for Halloween at the age of one (to three)?" No, their son was special and deserved something better than a commonplace pumpkin costume. They scoured the isles of the children's costumes finding fault with almost everyone they picked up. The Harley Davidson outfit was too brash, Woody or Buzz was before Noah's time and they had not yet acquainted him with Disney movies, the blue bunny was just too cute – and the wrong holiday, and Gabriel would not put any of them through the torture of introducing Noah to Barney or the costume that was based on the overstuffed dinosaur that they held before them. Finally, after a few hours of searching, they found the best costume of the store on the insistence of Gabriel's wife. It was a one piece bear costume. Gabriel had to admit, he was gunning for the baby bat costume, but at his wife's cooing of "Aww! How cute – papa bear and his baby bear" and a copious amount of blushing on his part, leaving the store without the costume was not an option.

Gabriel quickly clothed Noah in his costume and bounced him around a bit again.

"Who's going to be the best dressed little guy out there?" At this Noah gave a slight flail of his arms which Gabriel took to be "Me!" as he smiled and carried his son downstairs. He grabbed a small plastic bag with a Jack O'Lantern face on it and proceeded to head towards the door.

"Honey, I'm headed out with Noah. Be back in a bit!" he called towards the kitchen.

"Hold on! I want to see him!" his wife called as she quickly came into the foyer space. "Daww! He's so cute!! My little guy is growing up so fast." She gave a proud smile and placed a quick peck on Noah's little cheek peeking out of the headpiece and then lovingly kissed Gabriel. "Remember, I want to take pictures when you two get back."

"Of course, mother," Gabriel said jokingly as he exited the front door with his fur-claded son.

It was a cool night, but not too cool that either needed coats. It was early yet, the sun had not set fully and there were other parents out with their small children going door to door. Gabriel brought his son up to each and every house on their block gaining a stash of mini Kit-Kat's, Milky Way's, Snickers', Butterfinger's, Reese's, and one house actually gave out King Size candy. Gabriel happily accepted some Reese's on Noah's behalf. He was sure that his son would not miss them at all the following week. The second to last house that they stopped by was the house that gave out the healthy food like pretzels, sugarless gum, and fruit.

Walking away from the house Gabriel whispered to Noah, "Now, that kind of house you avoid at all costs when you go out on your own. You got me? There are three holidays where you can get hopped up on candy and no one will notice any different," Gabriel counted off on his free hand to Noah, "They're Halloween, Easter, and Valentine's Day. You got me, little man?" Noah gave a slight nod to his dad. "Yeah, that's my boy."

As they were approaching the final house, Gabriel noted three young children leaving counting up their haul – a little girl in a princess costume, a boy in a ninja costume, and the other boy in some kind of Jedi outfit. All at once the little boy dressed as a Jedi started crying and whining.

"You took my candy bar!" The boy in the ninja outfit completely ignored the young Jedi as he walked towards the sidewalk. The parents of the children were chatting away as if nothing was happening. Gabriel saw this and instantly felt sorry for the crying kid. Virginia had never let him out to go trick or treating fearing razor blades in candy and apples, but he could understand the claim that a child had over their possessions. As Gabriel and Noah passed the ninja, Gabriel reached out and tapped the child on the shoulder.

"Hey, why don't you go back and give him back what you took." The child glared at him and started yelling.

"Who are you, old man!? This is mine! I can't help it if he can't count!" Taken aback, Gabriel looked at the mothers again on the sidewalk. They didn't even attempt to correct the child. That kid wouldn't find his insults so amusing if he was TK'd into a nearby tree, would he? They'd see what kind of a ninja he was then.

Just as Gabriel was about to use his powers to teach the insolent little twerp a lesson, Noah smacked him in the face lightly to make him move towards the house to claim their final prize of the night. Gabriel took a breath, remembering to keep his cool for Noah so he just settled on giving the kid a death glare from behind his bushy eyebrows and thick glasses. The kid took the hint as he trudged back and gave the Jedi back a handful of mini candies.

Leaving the final house, Gabriel opened up one of the Reese's. He smiled to himself and at Noah thinking, "Oh yeah, I've still got it."


End file.
